page_title: Common kestrel
section_title: Subspecies
hierarchical_section_title: Common kestrel / Evolution and systematics / Subspecies
caption_attribution_description: English: Common Kestrel, European Kestrel, Eurasian Kestrel, or Old World Kestrel Falco tinnunculus in Kinnerasani Wildlife Sanctuary, Andhra Pradesh, India.
context_page_description: The common kestrel is a bird of prey species belonging to the kestrel group of the falcon family Falconidae. It is also known as the European kestrel, Eurasian kestrel, or Old World kestrel. In Britain, where no other kestrel species commonly occurs, it is generally just called "kestrel".
  This species occurs over a large range. It is widespread in Europe, Asia, and Africa, as well as occasionally reaching the east coast of North America. It has colonized a few oceanic islands, but vagrant individuals are generally rare; in the whole of Micronesia for example, the species was only recorded twice each on Guam and Saipan in the Marianas.
context_section_description: A number of subspecies of the common kestrel are known, though some are hardly distinct and may be invalid. Most of them differ little, and mainly in accordance with Bergmann's and Gloger's Rules. Tropical African forms have less grey in the male plumage.
  Falco tinnunculus tinnunculus Linnaeus, 1758
  Temperate areas of Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia north of the Hindu Kush-Himalaya mountain ranges to the NW Sea of Okhotsk region. Northern Asian populations migrate south in winter, apparently not crossing the Himalayas but diverting to the west.
  F. t. rufescens Swainson, 1837
  Sahel east to Ethiopia, southwards around Congo basin to S Tanzania and NE Angola.
  F. t. interstinctus McClelland, 1840
  Has dark heavily marked birds and has a foxed red phase but not reliably identified in the field. Breeds East Asia from Tibet to Korea and Japan, south into Indochina. Winters to the south of its breeding range, from northeastern India to the Philippines (where it is localized, e.g. from Mindanao only two records exist).
  F. t. rupicolaeformis (C. L. Brehm, 1855)
  Arabian Peninsula except in the desert and across the Red Sea into Africa.
  F. t. neglectus Schlegel, 1873
  Northern Cape Verde Islands.
  F. t. canariensis (Koenig, 1890)
  Madeira and western Canary Islands. The more ancient Canaries subspecies.
  F. t. dacotiae Hartert, 1913 – Local name: cernícalo
  Eastern Canary Islands: Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Chinijo Archipelago. A more recently evolved subspecies than canariensis.
  F. t. objurgatus (Baker, 1929)
  Western, Nilgiris and Eastern Ghats of India; Sri Lanka. Heavily marked, has rufous thighs with dark grey head in males.
  F. t. archerii (Hartert & Neumann, 1932)
  Somalia, coastal Kenya, and Socotra
  F. t. alexandri Bourne, 1955
  Southwestern Cape Verde Islands.
  The common kestrels of Europe living during cold periods of the Quaternary glaciation differed slightly in size from the current population; they are sometimes referred to as the paleosubspecies F. t. atavus (see also Bergmann's Rule). The remains of these birds, which presumably were the direct ancestors of the living F. t. tinnunculus (and perhaps other subspecies), are found throughout the then-unglaciated parts of Europe, from the Late Pliocene (ELMA Villanyian/ICS Piacenzian, MN16) about 3 million years ago to the Middle Pleistocene Saalian glaciation which ended about 130,000 years ago, when they finally gave way to birds indistinguishable from those living today. Some of the voles the Ice Age common kestrels ate—such as European pine voles (Microtus subterraneus)—were indistinguishable from those alive today. Other prey species of that time evolved more rapidly (like M. malei, the presumed ancestor of today's tundra vole M. oeconomus), while yet again others seem to have gone entirely extinct without leaving any living descendants—for example Pliomys lenki, which apparently fell victim to the Weichselian glaciation about 100,000 years ago.
caption: Female wintering in Kinnerasani Wildlife Sanctuary (Andhra Pradesh, India)
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 350D DIGITAL", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2009:03:27 17:23:08", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "228", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1054", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7801", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/250", "EXIF FNumber": "63/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:02:15 17:06:07", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:02:15 17:06:07", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "261023/32768", "EXIF ApertureValue": "174021/32768", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "500", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "768", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "600", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "928", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "1728000/437", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "384000/97", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}